“We’re gonna need a bigger boat,” echoed April 15 in the Manatee County commission chambers in Bradenton.
The county tourist development council, the board that advises the commission on tourism-related funding and projects, was discussing the Gulf Islands Ferry service between Bradenton and Anna Maria Island that launched in January with two custom boats and agreed a third boat is needed.
Council members also unanimously agreed they want to fund a boat with an enclosed cabin with tourist development tax dollars if the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau can’t secure grant money.
The service the county launched Jan. 12 employs two 50-foot open catamarans, each capable of carrying 48 passengers.
The service operates Wednesday-Sunday with stops at the day dock on the riverfront in downtown Bradenton, the Anna Maria City Pier in Anna Maria and the Bridge Street Pier in Bradenton Beach.
“We see that water taxi every day and it’s full coming and going,” said Bradenton Mayor Gene Brown, a TDC member who hailed the service as an economic boost.
“The businesses are really feeling it,” Brown said, referring to increased foot traffic on Pine Avenue and Bridge Street.
The mayor also cheered the ferry as alternative transportation that reduces automobile traffic between the mainland and the island.
“Traffic is probably the biggest thing we talk about every day,” he said.
The ferry boats take about 180 automobiles off the road per service day, according to Elliott Falcione, executive director of the BACVB. The estimate is based on the ferry boats moving 360 passengers per day.
“That’s a start, that’s a real start,” said TDC member Ed Chiles, an island businessperson who also serves on the Bradenton Beach Community Redevelopment Agency.
Chiles said the current operation proves the concept works but he wants to see an expansion.
“We’re gonna need a bigger boat,” Chiles said. “And a drier boat.”
Since mid-January, wind, rain and “chop” or rough surf have forced the suspension of service on 22 days, according to Falcione.
“That’s 7,000 passengers who couldn’t get on the ferry,” he said.
A third boat would be enclosed, “a little bit faster” and bigger, Falcione said.
The new boat — estimated to cost $2.8 million with a capacity to carry 150 passengers — would operate between Bradenton and Anna Maria while the catamarans would operate in the Intracoastal Waterway between Anna Maria and Bradenton Beach.
“Getting that third ferry boat is paramount to the future,” Falcione said.
Longer-term, plans involve:
- Expanding the ferry service to seven days a week, possibly in 2025;
- Instituting a workforce program;
- Establishing stops on Longboat Key and in Palmetto;
- Inspiring a Sarasota operation, allowing people to travel by boat and transit to the airport, which Chiles said would be “world-class.”
- Adding another pontoon boat to the fleet.
The recommendation for a third boat likely will go before the county commission this spring.
If funded, it could take a year to put another boat on the water.
In the meantime, the BACVB is investing in promotional ponchos.
The next TDC meeting will be at 9:30 a.m. Monday, June 10, at the Center of Anna Maria Island, 407 Magnolia Ave., Anna Maria.
Know your TDCs
The tourist development council recommends to county commissioners how to spend the tourist development tax — the 5% tax collected on overnight rentals of six months or less.
TDT spending must boost and develop tourism.
TDC members include County Commissioner Ray Turner as chair, Bradenton Mayor Gene Brown, Palmetto Mayor Shirley Bryant, hoteliers Jiten Patel, Ed Chiles, Eric Cairns and Rahul Patel and interested citizens Dave Wick and Norma Kennedy.
